Way back in 1982, as if prescient about what 2024 would look like, psychologists D.C. Daniel and K.L. Herbig, who specialized in strategic military subterfuge, defined DECEPTION as "the deliberate misrepresentation of reality to gain a competitive advantage." Note that their definition, unlike that of other psychologists, limits DECEPTION to deliberate acts that achieve a goal and benefit the schemer.

More specifically, they further divide DECEPTION into three subcategories: 1) COVER (secret keeping and camouflage); 2) LYING (making explicitly false statements to draw the target away from the truth); and 3) DECEPTION (which, unlike lying, doesn't focus primarily on the actions of the liar, but rather studies the effects of dishonesty on the receiver). This third subcategory, according to Daniel and Herbig, can be either ambiguity-increasing (which misleads by confusing the target) or ambiguity-decreasing (which misleads the target by building up the attractiveness of a false alternative). 

We especially love how Daniel and Herbig's definition insightfully realizes that the receiver of a deception is considered a TARGET by the deceiver. Does anyone consciously choose to TARGET a victim? Does anyone ever consider themselves a WILLING target? 

For IHLR Issue 27.2, THE DECEPTION ISSUE, we're looking for stories that consider any facet of subterfuge according to Daniel and Herbig. The protagonist can be either the liar or the target. Someone (or even multiple someones) is keeping a secret, or they're lying outright. Or maybe someone has built up a particularly destructive false alternative and called it truth. Will your story be set in the past, today's world, or the future? Only you can know. 

We'd be particularly interested in unreliable narrators or dramatic situations that skillfully deceive the reader! Skillfully, being the key. No surprise endings that turn out to be silly or implausible, please.

Think: fraud, cheating, dissembling, bluffing, gaslighting, dodging, artifice, monkey business, schemes, magic tricks, exaggeration, understatement, disguises, masks, Trojan horses, false testimony, false promises, flimflam, hoaxes, con jobs, sting operations, grifters, practical jokes gone bad, etc., etc. 

PARAMETERS

For our print issues, we read flash stories (1,000 words or less) and full-length stories (up to 5,000 words, approx. 17 pages). Stories longer than 5,000 words should be submitted to our annual IHLR Long Story Issue, not here.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if the story is taken elsewhere the moment that happens.

The Free Submit Day for the 27.2 DECEPTION ISSUE will be November 1, and you must get the link for that portal on our social media or website. IF YOU ATTEMPT TO USE THIS PORTAL FOR A FREE SUBMISSION, IT WILL CHARGE YOU THE USUAL SUBMISSION FEE. THIS IS NOT THE FREE SUBMIT PORTAL. WE WILL NOT REFUND YOUR MONEY IF YOU ARE NOT USING THE CORRECT PORTAL.

Way back in 1982, as if prescient about what 2024 would look like, psychologists D.C. Daniel and K.L. Herbig, who specialized in strategic military subterfuge, defined DECEPTION as "the deliberate misrepresentation of reality to gain a competitive advantage." Note that their definition, unlike that of other psychologists, limits DECEPTION to deliberate acts that achieve a goal and benefit the schemer.

More specifically, they further divide DECEPTION into three subcategories: 1) COVER (secret keeping and camouflage); 2) LYING (making explicitly false statements to draw the target away from the truth); and 3) DECEPTION (which, unlike lying, doesn't focus primarily on the actions of the liar, but rather studies the effects of dishonesty on the receiver). This third subcategory, according to Daniel and Herbig, can be either ambiguity-increasing (which misleads by confusing the target) or ambiguity-decreasing (which misleads the target by building up the attractiveness of a false alternative). 

We especially love how Daniel and Herbig's definition insightfully realizes that the receiver of a deception is considered a TARGET by the deceiver. Do liars consciously conceive of the people who receive their lies as a TARGET? Does anyone ever consider themselves a WILLING target? 

For IHLR Issue 27.2, THE DECEPTION ISSUE, we're looking for stories that consider any facet of subterfuge according to Daniel and Herbig. The protagonist can be either the liar or the target. Someone (or even multiple someones) is keeping a secret, or they're lying outright. Or maybe someone has built up a particularly destructive false alternative and called it truth. Will your story be set in the past, today's world, or the future? Only you can know. 

We're particularly interested in essays that skillfully deceive the reader by questioning the authority of memory or perspective! Or essays that use speculation, a now common technique in narrative nonfiction, to create an environment the reader can't ultimately trust. Of course, these types of essays would be questioning the concept of "reality" as "fact." Just remember: no surprise endings that turn out to be silly or implausible, please.

Think: fraud, cheating, dissembling, bluffing, gaslighting, dodging, artifice, monkey business, schemes, magic tricks, exaggeration, understatement, disguises, masks, Trojan horses, false testimony, false promises, flimflam, hoaxes, con jobs, sting operations, grifters, practical jokes gone bad, etc., etc. 

 PARAMETERS

For our print issues, we read flash essays (1,000 words or less) and full-length essays (up to 5,000 words, approx. 17 pages). Essays longer than 5,000 words should be submitted to our annual IHLR Long Story Issue, not here.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if the essay is taken elsewhere the moment that happens.

The Free Submit Day for the 27.2 DECEPTION ISSUE will be November 1, and you must get the link for that portal on our social media or website. IF YOU ATTEMPT TO USE THIS PORTAL FOR A FREE SUBMISSION, IT WILL CHARGE YOU THE USUAL SUBMISSION FEE. THIS IS NOT THE FREE SUBMIT PORTAL. WE WILL NOT REFUND YOUR MONEY IF YOU ARE NOT USING THE CORRECT PORTAL.

Way back in 1982, as if prescient about what 2024 would look like, psychologists D.C. Daniel and K.L. Herbig, who specialized in strategic military subterfuge, defined DECEPTION as "the deliberate misrepresentation of reality to gain a competitive advantage." Note that their definition, unlike that of other psychologists, limits DECEPTION to deliberate acts that achieve a goal and benefit the schemer.

More specifically, they further divide DECEPTION into three subcategories: 1) COVER (secret keeping and camouflage); 2) LYING (making explicitly false statements to draw the target away from the truth); and 3) DECEPTION (which, unlike lying, doesn't focus primarily on the actions of the liar, but rather studies the effects of dishonesty on the receiver). This third subcategory, according to Daniel and Herbig, can be either ambiguity-increasing (which misleads by confusing the target) or ambiguity-decreasing (which misleads the target by building up the attractiveness of a false alternative). 

We especially love how Daniel and Herbig's definition insightfully realizes that the receiver of a deception is considered a TARGET by the deceiver. Does anyone consciously choose to TARGET a victim? Does anyone ever consider themselves a WILLING target? 

For IHLR Issue 27.2, THE DECEPTION ISSUE, we're looking for poems that consider any facet of subterfuge according to Daniel and Herbig. The persona can be either the liar or the target. Someone (or even multiple someones) is perhaps keeping a secret, or maybe they're lying outright. Or, someone has built up a particularly destructive false alternative and called it truth. 

We'd be particularly interested in poems that make skillful use of an unreliable persona! 

Think: fraud, cheating, dissembling, bluffing, gaslighting, dodging, artifice, monkey business, schemes, magic tricks, exaggeration, understatement, disguises, masks, Trojan horses, false testimony, false promises, flimflam, hoaxes, con jobs, sting operations, grifters, practical jokes gone bad, etc., etc. 

PARAMETERS

We do not have length requirements for poetry, though we will not print any poem that severely limits the number of other poems we can include in each issue. Submitters should place all poems they want us to consider in ONE file (3-5 poems max, as per the guidelines on our website). Do not send multiple files.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if a poem is taken elsewhere the moment that happens.

The Free Submit Day for the 27.2 DECEPTION ISSUE will be November 1, and you must get the link for that portal on our social media or website. IF YOU ATTEMPT TO USE THIS PORTAL FOR A FREE SUBMISSION, IT WILL CHARGE YOU THE USUAL SUBMISSION FEE. THIS IS NOT THE FREE SUBMIT PORTAL. WE WILL NOT REFUND YOUR MONEY IF YOU ARE NOT USING THE CORRECT PORTAL.

Use this link to purchase any of our winning chapbooks:

• Maxwell Suzuki's Bust of an Athlete--our most recent chapbook, a collection of poetry
• Shuly Xóchitl Cawood's What The Fortune Tell Would Have Said--our most recent chapbook, a collection of flash essays
• Roseanna Alice Boswell's Imitating Light--a collection of poems.
• Brigitte Lewis's Origin Stories--a collection of stories that reconsider the domestic lives of Biblical couples: Adam and Eve, Lot and Edith, David and Bathsheba, Samson and Delilah, and Adam and Lilith (Adam's second wife).
• Freda Epum's Entryways into Memories That Might Assemble Me--a collection of flash essays on popular culture, depression, identity, and racism in America.
• Jed Myers's Dark Channels, a collection of poetry.
• Christopher Lowe's A Guest of the Program, a collection of linked stories about college football and recruiting programs and coaches.
• Robin Carstensen's In the Temple of Shining Mercy, a collection of poetry.
• Kirk Wisland's Melancholy of Falling Men, a collection of essays on masculinity in America.
• Joe Wilkins's Leviathan, a collection of poetry.
• Michael Hemmingson's Still Life with Iguana. Published posthumously, this is a novella about white hat operatives, assassins, and espionage.
• Brandon Davis Jennings's Waiting for the Enemy, a collection of linked stories about American servicemen in the Middle East.
• Hastings Hensel's Control Burn, a collection of poetry.
• Eric Neuenfeldt's Fall Ends Tomorrow, a collection of short stories.
• Meagan Ciesla's Me, Them, Us, a novella.

Each chapbook costs $10. Be sure to tell us which one(s) you are ordering. 

Due to budget cuts after Covid-19, we can no longer support international postage costs. Readers outside the United States will receive electronic copies only.